Land Acquisition Deals in Middlesex County

As a result of the SCI’s exposures in this investigation, the
Administrator of the County’s Land Acquisition Department was suspended
and the County government moved to institute a more stringent process of
checks and balances on land acquisition procedures. Even before the SCI
completed its hearings in January 1976, arrangements were being
formalized voluntarily by state officials, alerted by the Commission’s
findings, for the transfer of the Green Acres appraisal and
post-appraisal review and control system from the Department of
Environmental Protection to the Department of Transportation one of many
general and technical recommendations by the Commission that were
implemented. The SCI reported its findings in its 7th Annual Report for
1976.

SCI data was referred to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office, which
investigated the conduct of the County Land Acquisition Department. In
September 1976, a Grand Jury returned a presentment in which it said
that while it found “no provable criminal act” by the department’s
former administrator, his activities “indicated an insufficient
expertise and lack of concern to perform his office in the best interest
of the citizens.” The presentment also criticized the collection of
political contributions from appraisers, “which if not improper under
law certainly gave the appearance of impropriety.”